When you first look at your new home node, it looks pretty boring. Along the top left edge of the page is your new nickname, and along the right side are some statistics and some boring text boxes. Statistics added automatically to the page includes when you last logged in to Everything2 the date and time you joined. All times are in 24-hour militaryformat. The typical blankhome node looks similar to this:

Here's where you can now make the home node your special place on Everything2.

Under the Real Name: section, the name you entered when you joined up is displayed. If you want to change it, feel free. The only folks who get to see it are the folks who run the site, and it's convenient if they can email you knowing your name.

Should you wish to change your password, just enter it twice. This helps to stave off getting locked out of your account because of a typo. You can change it as often as you like, but please make sure it is a secure one.

Next is your email address. Please make sure you enter a real one that you check regularly. If you're worried about spam, you can use a hotmail account. The folks running Everything2 are very knowledgeable, and they have the highest integrity when it comes to not spamming you or giving out your emailaddress. (Dem Bones: You owe me a beer for that statement, hehehe.) Seriously, should something happen to your account such as someone finding your password, they can notify you of the transgression and get you back in the good graces of the E2 public.

Ahhh, the User's Bio section. This is where you can put anything you wish, from jokes to ASCIIpictures to information about you. Try to put useful information, or have something to say. An interesting use is if a node of yours is nuked, and you firmly believe it is a good node, you can put it here. Please try to avoid insulting other users or posting copyrighted text. Click on other user's names to see examples of what can appear in this area.

The mission drive within everything line allows you to add a statement concerning your mission, or why you joined everything2. Then again, it can be your shoe size, it's up to you.

The specialties line gives you an opportunity to let others know quickly what you're interested in or what you're good at.

The school/company line allows you to let others know where you attend school or work. If you're stuck, the School of Hard Knocks is popular.

The motto line gives you the opportunity to say in one sentence what your motto is. Be funny, creative or poetic, it's up to you.

If you find interesting nodes that mean a lot to you, or perhaps made you wet yourself laughing, you can bookmark them. They get added automagically to your home node, and is basically a suggested reading list of what you liked. A sign of a newbie is to have a huge list of bookmarks. Be discriminating, pick only the best. Should you decide to remove any of the bookmarks, the last part of the page, You can remove your bookmarks, gives you the tools to do so. Next to each bookmark will be a checkbox. Click it and that bookmark will be deleted.

Nothing gets changed without hitting the SUBMIT button. Click it and your information will get updated in the Everything2 database.

After you're done, and you've made the changes to your home node, you can click the display link that appears opposite your name. This changes your page to your normal home node. Congratulations, you're done!

When you reach level six, you will be granted the power of displaying a photo! Above the Real Name box will appear buttons and a text box to add an uncopyrighted, non-X-ratedimage to your home node. By the time you're ready for your picture to grace your node, you'll probably have changed the home node ten times over. Some folks change their picture regularly.

Welcome to Everything2! If you have any questions, ask anyone in the chatterbox nodelet or /msgrancid_pickle.

Additional suggestions:

N-Wing says: In your newbie guide, maybe mention the main area (user's bio) can be used to preview how a writeup will look. (This comment was sent before the Scratch Pads feature existed.)

simonc says: Suggest you mention that a force-refresh is sometimes needed to view updates. This is usually shift-refresh or shift-option/alt refresh.

Category:

One more thing, and I may flesh this point out later but I just feel it's important to note, but yourhome node is yours and yours alone. That means you can put anything there, and no one can vote your node down or cause you undue pain about it. Recently I've noticed some people are unhappy about the fact that some graphic files are of questionable taste, but you don't have to worry about that if you're a newbie. I'm still at level five as of this writing and I can't put a picture up on my home node yet.

My point is though, if there are things which you find are downvoted and sent to your little corner of node heaven, and if that hasn't happened to you yet it will because that's a sort of inevitable rite of passage for hanging in E2, then if you want you can opt to copypaste an edited version of anything which the voters didn't like and put it on your homenode page. Or if there's stuff you'd like to write but you learn that such things get downvoted, you can put them on your home node. You can respond to "Getting To Know You" nodes at your homenode without any fear of reprisal. You can put node responses of any kind on your home node and link back to where you would have liked to put it. Or you can say your favorite catch phrases or make a statement about your personal beliefs and politics. Hate black people? By all means shout it to the rooftops on your home node. If I see a page that's blatantly racist I'll downvote it in a heartbeat, but on your homenode I can't do crap to you.

For the record, N-Wing has pointed out to me that "you can't downvote a user's homenode, but you can downvote their writeups. One shouldn't do that, though, but some do. :( So 'fear of reprisal' isn't perfectly correct." Granted all this is true, but I wouldn't want to give any mischievous noders out there any ideas, so let's pretend N-Wing didn't mention that. =)

The problem is, if you start adding stuff to your homenode regularly, you'll begin to notice that the one page gets pretty long pretty fast, and you'll wish you had more than one page. Man. If wishes were horses, eh? Also, no work on your homenode grants you any kind of XP with which to improve your Node-fu. However, as you slowly shake off the mantle of newbie like a snake sheds its skin, you will come to transcend XP and realize that it doesn't really mean anything in the long run.

Regardless of what you do in your home node, make it your own. Stretch out and make yourself at home. Put whatever you feel comfortable and whatever makes you feel comfortable because there are times when you're gonna have to frequent that page. Make it something of which you can personally be proud.